Another 700

Well, I had another good night at the bowling alley last night and my team was succesful as well, going 3 and 1 on the night. Last week, when I played hookie and stayed home to play poker, they, of course, won 4 while bowling me blind. They all bowled really well the previous week and decided to give me a ration of shit before last night's festivities got under way.

Following the good natured teasing from my buddies, I proceeded to kick them all square in the junk.

224-248-242 for a 714 series.

Again, I raised my average another stick and am sitting squarely at 210 per game with three short weeks left in the season. I would rather have the average higher than that, but since I am only bowling one night per week now, I am still pretty happy with 210.


Game 1
1.Strike
2.Strike
3.Strike
4.Strike
5.9-spare
6.Strike
7.8-1-chopped the 6-10 after a bad first ball.
8.8-1-another bad pitch, split this time.
9.Strike
10.Strike, strike, Eight.

I came back well from two bad frames and finished with 224, then I get up for my first ball of the next game and do the exact same thing as the 7th and 8th frame of the first game.

Game 2
1.7-2-right through the nose and an ugly split.
2.9-spare.
3.Strike
4.9-spare.
5.Strike
6.Strike
7.Strike
8.Strike
9.Strike
10.Strike, strike, Nine.

Again, I finished strong for a 248 and I am on a good roll heading into the last game.

Game 3
1.9-spare-my only 10 pin of the night.
2.9-spare-seven pin that definitely should have carried.
3.Strike
4.Strike
5.Strike
6.Strike
7.9-spare
8.5-spare-my ball did something funny here and stayed right and left the 1-2-4-6-10 washout, but I covered it.
9.Strike
10.Strike, strike, Nine.

Again, but for a few little hiccups along the way, I could have really shot a big series last night. Still, with the 242 in the last game, I shot 714 overall and I am very happy with that.

That's all for this week, see you next Wednesday.

G

Nada

No update coming this week as I had a buddy sub for me and I stayed home and played Pokah!

Karaoke Gear

These are the microphones that we use for our shows. Sturdy Shure corded SM58's for the singers, the wireless headset for my wife and the wireless handheld for me. They are all good mic's and we have had them for a long time.

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This new floor monitor was actually more expensive than the speakers were individually, but it is well worth it for the singers. It is very important for the singer to actually be able to hear themselves and short of investing in the high tech gear that professional artists use, these things work just fine.

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This is the karaoke machine itself. We used to use a triple tray player and pull each individual disc for every single song. This machine has a built in hard drive and we currently have more than 21,000 songs stored that are simply at your fingertips. Punch in the number on the remote control and you have karaoke without ever leaving your table.

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Here's where the music all starts, our Mackie 408 powered mixer. It has built in effects and seperate amps for the main speakers and the floor monitors. It is strong enough to actually run a small band and has 8 channels, of which, we only use 5 for the music and the microphones.

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Here is one of the new additions to my karaoke gear. The wife and I purchased these last Friday (thanks Uncle Sam) and they are a godsend. They really don't sound alot different than my huge JBL's, but they only weigh 35 lbs. or so, compared to 109 lbs. apiece on the older JBL's.

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Okay, there's the gear. I'm sure you are thrilled that you wasted those 5 minutes of your life. Thanks for stopping by.

G

Heater? Nah

After two straight 700's at the bowling alley, it was time for a dropoff and that dropoff aarrived last night. The lanes had even more oil than normal and it took some time to adjust. I did make a pretty good adjustment though, after struggling most of the first game:

Game 1

1.Strike
2.Strike
3.Nine-spare-ten-pin.
4.8-open-left a 7-10 split on a pocket hit.
5.6-3-trying to adjust, I came up light and washed out.
6.9-spare-four pin.
7.9-spare-another ten-pin.
8.Strike
9.Nine-spare-ten-pin.
10.Nine-spare-Nine-another ten pin.

I went from lined up to lost and back to lined up, but could not find a way to carry the ten pin. 181 for the first game and my lowest game in at least three weeks.

Game 2

1.Strike
2.Strike
3.Nine-spare- seven pin.
4.Nine-spare-ten pin.
5.Strike
6.Strike
7.Strike
8.Six-spare. I got way too fast with this shot and missed right, leaving the 2-4-8-10 split, but I was able to convert it.
9.Strike
10.Strike, Strike, Strike.

244 in the second game and back on track a bit.

Game 3

1.Nine-spare-four pin.
2.Nine-open-left a solid seven pin and missed it in the ditch.<--lack of concentration. 3.Six-two. Pulled this shot right through the nose and left the big four split, 4-6-7-10. 4.Strike 5.Strike 6.Strike 7.Strike 8.Strike 9.Nine-spare-ten pin. 10.Strike, Nine-spare-seven pin. Finished strong for 215 after a horrendous start. This is what I should have done the first game, except I couldn't carry when I finally got it to the pocket. 640 series, which is above my average, so I am still pleased and for the first time in a while, we finally won 3 games out of 4. We could have won all four games if I had struck out in the first game, but it wasn't meant to be. Current Average-209 I haven't talked about our positions in the lineup, but I am the anchor man on my team. That means I bowl last and face the other team's best bowler on a nightly basis. Last night provided one of the rare opportunities of stepping up in the tenth frame and knowing that I needed a strike for my team to win the game. More often than not, I get those strikes, but last night was not one of those nights. I pride myself on being able to get up there under a bit of pressure and throw a solid shot and both balls in the first game last night were good enough. They got to the pocket, just didn't carry and really, that is all you can do. It's a bit like trapping your opponent in poker, playing perfectly and flipping the cards up to find out that he has a two-outer to beat you. Some times you dodge the two-outer and sometimes you don't. Anyway, bowling is going well and I have raised my average 2-3 pins in the three weeks I have been tracking it here. I think I have paid more attention and had a higher degree of concentration since I started keeping track of my score to document here, so that is one goal accomplished. Too often, when my team is getting hammered by the opposing team, I found I would lose concentration and the results would be poor shots. As tricky as our oil pattern is right now, there is no chance for success without concentrating on what you are doing on every single shot. That's all I have for today, thanks for stopping by. G